The Dak strikes Back
Lets build the case for him over Ezekiel
The NFL announced the season awards with some much deserved recipients, Khalil Mack is one hell of a player and earned it just in time before Jadeveon Clowney dominates it for the next 5 years. We all kinda knew Matty Ice was going to win MVP, Brady probably would’ve won it had he not been suspended the first 4 games of the season. Rodgers caught fire in the 2nd half of the season but the Packers had been pretty bad the first half and finished 10–6, he held the best narrative in the run up to the awards barring maybe Zeke as the rookie RB potentially breaking Eric Dickersons 33 year old record.
Everyone got caught up in Zeke chasing history that when he didn’t break the record everyone just exhaled and wrote him off for MVP, but we all seemed to forget that the last time a Rookie led the league in rushing was before the turn of the millennium. Where Edgerrin James won Offensive Rookie of the Year award. So how can we justify Dak Prescott snatching the award from him.
The Narrative
America has a love affair with the Narrative, a narrative must have a close tie with adversity and the team/player must overcome this. A shock comeback victory. Losing a key player and a back up stepping up to the plate. An overlooked player being taken late in the draft and outplaying all expectations(It’s what makes the Tom Brady story so polarising). Ezekiel Elliot was a 1st round pick. You expect him to be good. Especially behind the best offensive line in football. Dak Prsecott was a 4th round pick with 134 players being selected before him, 6 of those being Quarterbacks. He was never supposed to be a starter, he was the fringe-maybe back-up to Tony Romo when he decided to retire. Well Romo went down with an injury and thrust the teams reins into Daks hands. All Cowboys fans lost hope and resigned themselves to a throwaway season and we’d hopefully get a good player in the 2017 NFL draft. Especially after losing the opening game. Well the Cowboys rattled off 11 straight wins. Finishing 13–3.
The Stats
Now Daks offensive numbers weren’t as eye popping as Zeke’s , Dak didn’t carry that team through his greatness, but he did something potentially better for the Cowboys. He took care of the ball. He only threw 4 interceptions in the regular season; to 23 Touchdowns. A QB who doesn’t give the ball away might not be as fun as a gun-slinger but he certainly won’t lose you games. The Cowboys finished 13–3 with one of those losses being the last game with the back ups starting.
- Best touchdown pass–interception ratio, rookie season: 5.75:1 (23 TDs, 4 INTs), Dak Prescott, 2016
- Most consecutive passes attempted, none intercepted, rookie season/to start a career: 176, Dak Prescott 2016
His names already sprinkled through the record books overtaking Brady in his rookie season.
The Position
Dak is the QB. The Leader. It’s unfair yes, but MVP awards are typically given to Quaterback. They tend to be the first to be blamed for a loss, it’s their responsibility to mount a comeback. Ezekiel is a position player, an incredibly great one at that but the ball isn’t put in his hand at the start of every snap. A running back needs to break 2000 rushing yards to be typically selected for it.
Quaterbacks have won the MVP award 40 times with other Positions 21 times since Jim Brown in 1957.
So a similar precedent would follow for Rookie of the year. Dak is accountable.
Personally I’d of given Ezekiel Elliot the award, he finished tied 3rd in MVP voting. Ahead of Dak Prescott, so the logic doesn’t exactly follow. But these two young stars both seem humble enough to co-exist. Here’s to the future Cowboys Fans!
